Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday panned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over its handling of the detention of a Taiwanese fishing boat by the Philippines.
“An initial report released by the Philippine authorities accuse the Taiwanese fishing boat Sheng Fong No. 12 (昇豐12號) of engaging in illegal fishing in Philippine territorial waters,” Chuang told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. “However, it was a unilateral investigation, without Taiwan being invited to take part in the probe. The foreign ministry should not just believe whatever the Philippines claims.”
The Pingtung-registered Sheng Feng No. 12 early on Thursday morning was passing through waters 6.5 nautical miles (12km) southeast of Mavulis Island — called Yami Island by Taiwan — the northernmost tip of the Batanes Islands, when the Philippine coast guard approached and boarded the fishing boat to investigate whether it had been poaching, according to a fishermen’s association in Pingtung’s Liouciou (琉球), where the vessel is registered.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Sheng Feng No. 12 captain Hung Tien-ting (洪添丁) said the boat was just making an “innocent passage” through Philippine waters, but Filipino authorities insisted on investigating it.
Chuang yesterday said that, as far as he knew, no fishing net nor fish was found on board, negating the Philippines’ claim that it had been “illegally fishing.”
“According to Article 17 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ‘ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea,’” Chuang said, adding that the Sheng Fong No. 12 has therefore been falsely detained.
“The ministry should take a harder stance on the issue, instead of allowing the Philippines to do whatever it wants,” he said.
Fisheries Agency official Wang Mao-cheng (王茂城) agreed, saying that according to information gathered via satellite, “Sheng Fong No. 12 was traveling at a speed of seven to eight knots [per hour] at the time, and it is unlikely that it could have been in operation [fishing] at the speed.”
However, Liu Cheng-hsing (劉政星), deputy counselor at the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that according to Philippine laws, any fishing vessel that travels into its waters without permission would be regarded as engaging in illegal fishing, and would have to take the burden of proof.
A Central News Agency report yesterday quoted Philippine officials as saying that local authorities had taken the Taiwanese boat under custody because its registered fishing ground is the Indian Ocean, so it had no reason to pass through the Batanes Islands or enter Philippine territorial waters.
Six people aboard the Taiwanese fishing boat, now in Basco, were released on bail on Friday after negotiations with Filipino officials. The six are Hung, a chief engineer surnamed Huang (黃) and four Indonesian fishermen.
The court ordered each of them to be freed on bail of 15,000 pesos (US$340). They can move freely for the time being in the Philippines, but have to appear in court if summoned.
Additional reporting by CNA
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